This invention relates to containers for convenient, compact storing and dispensing of medical pills or like small articles. The invention further concerns prevention of access to the stored articles by very young children through obscuring the mode by which the container may be opened. Dosages of various units of medicament on be segregated in the container according to a desired dispensing sequence so that inspection of the contents provides instant evidence of whether a particular dosage has been dispensed.
Pill cases and containers for storing and dispensing medicaments such as capsules and tablets are in wide use. Typical are the screw top or plug top bottles and tubes and the flat rectangular boxes or tins such as those commonly used for aspirin tablets. Recently, interest has focused on U.S. government emphasis that medicine containers embody means to prevent small children from gaining easy access to the contents and thus guard against accidental poisoning. Development of such containers has led to lids or tops that must be very strongly gripped, pressed, or otherwise manipulated in a manner generally beyond the strength or coordination of a yound child. However, some such containers have not been entirely satisfactory for they may be found too difficult to open even by adults, for example, by various handicapped persons and those unable to apply the necessary force or dexterity.
There has also been a need for simplified structure providing for compact storage of a large number of dosages of medicaments segregated according to a pre-set sequence or number of units for easy viewing and sequential dispensing over an extended period, e.g., a week's time. For example, a physician may prescribe a regimen in which units of one or a plurality of different medicines in pill, tablet or like form are to be taken in dosages of different combinations or at different times throughout the day and according to regularly repeating or varying numbers of units. Storing and handling of the different medicines, selecting the required medicines and the number of units to be taken each time, and then remembering whether a given dosage has been taken can be very burdensome.
Several approaches to providing lockable containers, compact storage and other features are disclosed in the U.S Pat. Nos. 3,537,422 and 3,618,559 to Moe; 3,570,707 to Finkel; 3,095,085 to Meijer; and 3,162,301 to Cage, Jr. These patents, however, do not provide the advantages and flexibility of the herein disclosed structure so as to meet the needs indicated above.